Chapter 11: Hold the Line
Sanders braced himself on a small tree breaking through the concrete as Pyrrha's massive form bounded to him. As she got close enough to see a bit clearer, Sanders was shocked to see signs of injury on her legs and arm. None of them looked serious and most had already stopped bleeding, but she had, obviously, been in a fight. A fight that was against people without guns considering the nature of the wounds... Her face had a worried look, but it changed to a bright smile as she saw him.
"Sanders!" she cried in relief, causing Sanders to wince at the volume, before moving close enough to scoop him up. He tried to tell her they didn't have time for this, but his words were turned into muffled nonsense as Pyrrha cuddled her cheek into him. Sanders usually liked her soft skin and warm embrace, but right now they didn't have time for this. If she had run into whoever was attacking on the way here then this attack was far FAR worse than Sanders had feared.
"I'm glad he is safe too, Jessica, but we need to get moving," a faint female voice said from above. Pyrrha pulled Sanders away and blushed before raising him up to her head. Sanders took a second to recover from his cuddle before hopping over to find Samantha waiting for him. And, even better, his machine gun with its drum of ammo.
"We came as fast as we could, but had to help drive the Society away from our base in the stadium," Samantha said as she helped Sanders get the drum strapped to his' back.
"They attacked the base too?" Sanders asked, shocked the attack was that large. The line, here, AND the Phoenix base... This was getting worse by the second and Sanders made sure the gun was loaded and ready.
"Not just the base either. The radio is mostly chaos, but I managed to piece together that the courthouse and our northern lines are still being hit," Samantha said a hint of worry showing beneath her stony gaze. He had already heard about the line being attacked, but hadn't heard the courthouse had been as well. It was a good thing he had sent Gabby in that direction.. But, damn, how had the Society snuck in a large enough force to attack three places at once?!
"This is worse than I thought... I sent Gabby to the courthouse so I think we'd be better off heading for the line," Sanders said looking to see if Samantha agreed. She gave a quick nod before turning toward Pyrrha’s ear..
"Agreed, Jessica!" Samantha said. Pyrrha, or Jessica ugh this was confusing..., gave a small nod before turning toward the northern defensive line. Sanders and Samantha grabbed on as she sprang forward and started to bound her way toward it. It was a good five to ten minutes away, though, even at Pyrrha's speed. He hope-
"Sanders!" Jessica yelled to get Sanders attention and snap him out of his thoughts, "I've been trying to figure out the situation there, but most of the transmissions are garbled or just calls for aid. I have been able to piece together that their under attack by those cyborgs as well." Sanders eyes widened in shock at that last word.
"Cyborgs?! You mean like.... half-man, half-machine cyborgs?" Sanders asked incredulous. Surely that was some kind of code word or, oh God she was nodding.
"Yeah. Both me and Jessica saw them. They have robotic parts replacing some of their flesh, and it makes them super-humanly strong, tough, and fast. One of them managed to punch an arrow through an entire tree when they shot it at me and some others were, literally, dodging bullets. And you really don't want to know what they can do if they get close," Samantha said, her face dead set and dead serious. Jesus... no wonder they had managed to wound Pyrrha. And if those things were hitting the line...
Sanders swore as he realized how unprepared the defensive line was for this kind of attack. Everything they had there was built to hold off catmonsters, fairies, etc... Big targets that were easy to hit because of their size. Against small, fast moving, cyborgs, though, they were going to be useless. Hell, beyond useless. And once they got to grips with the Romans...
"Pyrrha, hurry!" Sanders said and she nodded before turning her bound into an outright sprint.
Even with Pyrrha going full speed it took them a solid seven minutes to arrive. As Pyrrha came around the corner of a large, collapsed, building, the group got their first look at the scene. Gunfire was erupting down almost the entire line, causing the night to be lit up by pinpricks of flashes. The center of the line was in utter chaos as gunfire was sporadic and going in every direction. There didn't look to be anything but a few hardpoints left of the Romans and those looked few and far between. Thankfully, the outer edges of the line, where it bumped into a massive collapsed building or the river, still looked intact with only a few spots where the line looked breached . A few floodlights that had been built onto the turret's platforms were trying to light up the scene but most were either damaged or unmanned. And to make it worse, the radio was an utter mess of conflicting reports, calls for help, and general confusion. More than a few people were still demanding to know who was attacking and some were even saying it was the Phoenixes!
"Shit, we need to get to the HQ," Sanders said as he looked over the confused mess of a battlefield. Charging in to help might look cool, but in that maelstrom of chaos they'd been just as likely to wind up where they weren't needed.
"Yeah, someone needs to get control of this situation and figure out what we can salvage. It's only a matter of time before the Society throws the real push at the line," Samantha added with a bit of worry in her voice. Shit she was right... this would be the perfect beginning to an attack meant to breach the line. And if the Society managed punch through, everyone in Rome was dead.
Pyrrha made a beeline for the Roman-made HQ and, both thankfully and worryingly, passed very few retreating forces. Despite the chaos all around it, the HQ looked to have avoided the worst of the fighting and was still, mostly, calm outside. Sander doubted it was that way inside, though, doubly so considering the constant chaos on the radio.
"Drop me off at Command. I'll try to get some semblance of order there. Take Pyrrha and do what you can for now, I'll call you on the Phoenix frequency once I know where you two are really needed," Samantha said as they neared the building. Was she planning on taking command? Well, she had been training with William and there was, obviously, a need for SOMEONE to pick up the reigns.
Sanders nodded and was about to ask Pyrrha to do as she said, but the catgirl was already plucking Samantha from her head. Samantha waited till she was on the ground before sprinting into the building, pushing a few soldiers out of her way. Sanders watched her go before turning back to the battle.
Now that he was much closer, Sanders could see the battle was not as bad as it looked. While the center line was in tatters, the holdouts that the Romans had made looked to be in no real danger of falling. In fact... Sanders wasn't sure more than a handful of the "cyborgs" were even engaging them. It was almost as if they just wanted to keep the Romans pin-
Sanders never finished that thought as a massive explosion blasted out from the right side of the HQ. The wave of displaced air caused Sanders, and even Pyrrha, to stumble as the night suddenly turned to day. Sanders steadied himself with Pyrrha's hair and rushed to the side to see what had happened. His heart dropped as he saw what had exploded.
The turret just to the right of the command center was now nothing but flaming wreckage. The ammo trucks behind it began to catch flame and explode out as well, some with only a small pops thanks to being syringes as Roman that were too close fled in terror. Bits of flaming wreckage rained down as the turret collapsed in on itself. The Command Center of the turret soon followed and the entire structure turned into a heap of burning metal and smoking ruin. Oh God... they were targeting the turrets!
Sanders snatched up his radio and was about to speak when it blared to life.
"Sanders, turret 2 just went silent! It's the one to the left of the HQ! Hurry if that turret goes do-" was as far as Sanders let Samantha get before sprinting back to the center of Pyrrha's head.
"Pyrrha, head to the turret on the left, now! NOW!" Sanders yelled getting Pyrrha to snap out of her surprise. She whirled toward the turret and move to it as quickly as she could. Thankfully, the Romans being mostly confined to their small holdouts meant she didn't have to watch for them too much which keep her speed up. Sanders prayed the turret was just having technical problems, but he feared it was something much, much worse.
His fear only grew as they neared the turret. Very few of its lights were still on and almost no gunfire was coming from it. Worse, a few Romans were outside the turret's entrance and looked to be pinned down. Shit, the turret HAD been taken! And if those cyborgs managed to set their charges...
"Pyrrha, put me on the gun!" Sanders ordered. He felt Pyrrha start to give a confused answer, but stopped her with a small stomp.
"Just do it Pyrrha, we don't have time!" Sanders demanded and Pyrrha gave a small nod. She leap over the small holdout of Romans and ran around the command center. Sanders glanced in and could see a few Romans still trying to fight off the cyborgs, but could tell they were outnumbered. He wanted to tell Pyrrha to stop, to rush in and help, but knew he didn’t have time. The charges would be placed on the gun to make sure it was unusable, Sanders couldn’t risk not arriving in time...
Pyrrha came to a stop beside the massive rifle and, with a bit of hesitation, held her hand up for Sanders to climb onto. He, practically, leap onto it and willed Pyrrha to go faster as she dropped him onto the barrel of the huge thing. Sanders wasted no time as he rechecked his machine gun and sprinted down the barrel..
A quick sprint saw Sanders leap up and over the iron sight of the gun and into the turret proper. The area was still lit, thankfully, but that was about the only good news. A handful of Romans, no more than twelve at most, armed with pistols and even a few scavenged swords were trying to fight off ten or so.... well cyborgs. They had been herded into the back corner of the turret and were pinned down behind, ironically, massive clips for the turret. Another batch of four cyborgs looked to be moving up to the walkways beside the gun. Sanders could see they were holding something very charge-like in their hands and were double-timing it up to where he was.
Sadly, Sanders didn't get the drop on them as they all snapped up toward him, their mechanical eyes glowing red. Shit... Most of them ducked down and Sanders thought they were taking cover, but learned how wrong he was as two took out bows and leveled them at him. Falling on purpose, Sanders, barely, managed to avoid the two arrows as they wizzed bare inches from his head. However, his large backpack full of ammo began to drag him over the side of the gun. Sanders swore as he tried to stop himself, but couldn’t find a good hand hole. He stifled a yell before crashing into the metal walkway below him, stunned but not injured.
He didn't have much time to recover as one of the cyborgs bounded up onto the gun and then down onto the walkway. Sanders got to his feet as the thing came charging in, sword ready. He leveled his gun to fire... but waited a heartbeat as he remembered Samantha's words. That pause might have saved his life.
The moment his gun leveled on the cyborg, it juked to the side to avoid the shots. Had Sanders fired, he would have missed and been hard pressed to get the gun back on target with the recoil hampering him. But he hadn't and it was easy to shift the gun back on target while the cyborg was too off-balance from the quick juke to repeat the move. Sanders opened fire and the large, heavy bullets ripped the half-machine apart, sending blood, sparks, and metal bits flying. It flopped to the ground, smoking and bleeding as its eye-light faded away.
With the first of the cyborgs dead, Sanders started down the walkway toward a set of stairs. The stairs led to a walkway that was a bit lower and went under the gun. He could use that to get to where the cyborgs ha- Ah HA!
His thoughts ended as he spotted one of the cyborg archers appear on top of the gun. Sanders whirled his gun up and sent a hail of fire at the cyborg, forcing it to duck back. It was a good thing the Society hadn't let them have guns or he would be screwed right now. With that bow, however, the cyborg had to present too much of itself to risk firing with Sanders aware of it. If it got out of cover, Sanders would fill it with lead.
Sanders stopped his suppressing fire as he inched toward the stairs. If he could reach them, he could get out of the line of fire an- wait... what was tha-SHIT!
Realizing what the sound was, Sanders turned to see the third cyborg, this one armed with a brutal axe, leaping up onto the walkway from the one below. It twirled the axe in its hand before charging straight for Sanders. Worse, the archer was watching very carefully, ready to fire if Sanders turned his gun to face the other cyborg. The axe one was closing in, Sanders had to do something or he was dead! Maybe… shit it was worth a try!
The axe-wielding cyborg raised his axe up and Sanders grunted as he put his quick thought into action. Just as the axe started to come down, Sanders whirled around to bring the large backpack spinning into the cyborg. The impact knocking the blow off course and caused it to skid off the pack with a sickening screech. The cyborg tumbled forward before slamming into the guard rail and having to fight to stop his own inertia from throwing him off. Sanders keep the spin going as the archer leap up and fired. However, even with his insane strength, the arrow wasn't able to punch all the way through the backpack. And as Sanders whirled back to face him, it was too slow to dodge the barrage of fire that ripped it apart. Sanders didn’t stop firing as he let his inertia spin him around to the third cyborg. It had just enough time to turn before it was blasted apart and sent tumbling off the side. Three cyborgs down, one to go.
Realizing the backpack was now useless as bullets began to leak out of it, Sanders dropped it and took an undamaged belt of ammo with him in case his gun ran dry. Now much lighter on his feet, he sprinted down the stairs and to the other side of the gun.
He slowed as he neared the other side and began to inch his way forward. There was still another archer and there was no telling where it had gone. Sanders stepped out from under the huge gun and began to move toward the stairs. He couldn't see any sign of the archer, so far, but he knew it had to be there. The question was where...
Suddenly, a loud crash came from behind Sanders. He whirled to face it, but too late as a metal hand clamped down onto his throat. It tightened enough to cause Sanders to gasp and strain to breath, but not enough to cut air off completely. The cyborg archer had landed behind him and its robotic eye whirled as it studied him.
"Alpha level target. Threat level: Red. Interesting," the cyborg said, with a odd mechanical tone. It, easily, yanked the gun from Sanders hand and dropped it to the ground. Sanders tried to kick out at the damn thing, but it ignored his flaying as it studied him a moment more. Suddenly, it gave Sanders an oddly human-like smirk before tossing him back down the walkway with enough force to cause Sanders to skid to a stop on the other side of the gun. Sanders groaned and coughed as he picked himself up.
"A normal human given threat level: Red. I..." the cyborg seemed to freeze as if fighting something, "I have to see just how good you are. Sanders Cutter... the traitor himself. The man who escaped from under the owner's nose. I...I HAVE to see!" The cyborg began to spark a bit as if parts of it was fighting itself, but the sparks ended as it gave him a wicked and demented smile. Fuck... It...it was like the original person was still in there and was fighting for control!
"W-WAIT!" Sanders stammered out as he coughed again. The cyborg’s smile faded as it raised an eyebrow.
"Y...You don't have to obey them! I, we can help you, can turn you back to normal! You don’t have to be their slave!" Sanders said as he finally recovered from the choking. The cyborg stared at him before tilting its head to the side. And then a big grin spread over its face.
"Heheh... HahAHAHAHAHAHA! BACK TO NORMAL! WHY THE FUCK WOULD I GO BACK TO THAT?! LOOK AT ME!" the cyborg said before smashing its hand into the railing, bending it with ease.
"I'm stronger, tougher, faster, and better off than you will EVER be! So I have to do what the owners want, so what?! I get plenty of food, I get a nice bed and AC, I get all the murder I want, I get this awesome body, and I get to keep my min… my.... mind...." the cyborg trailed off suddenly as it seemed to stare at something only it could see. A few more sparks flew out as its smile faded.
"Well...I WAS, before he showed up. I fought so hard, proved myself through so many trials. Did everything for the owners. That's why I'm not like those dolls, why I'm still me. I EARNED that right," the cyborg said as it waved, dismissively toward the corpses of his fellows.
"I should have been the leader, the number one, but he came along....That fucking bastard and his horrrrrrrrridly wonderful owner, Lutice," the cyborg said as more sparks erupted and it seemed to struggle not to say what it had. Sanders eyes went wide as he heard Lutice's name. Shit... she was part of this....horror?
"But it's fine....it's fine. I'll kill you. Kill you fair and square like the tests were done. I’ll kill the traitor, the one everyone wants dead. Prove I’m the best, prove I’m worthy of existence, prove that I am MORE THAN A PUPPET! And then...then I'll be the owner and HE'LL BE THE DOLL!!!! AHAHAHAHAHA!" the cyborg laughed as it pulled out a sword. It smirked at Sanders before tossing it over to him.
"Now come on, Threat Level: Red Cutter. I WANT TO PUT ON A GOOD SHOW FOR THE OWNERS!!!" it said before charging straight toward Sanders.
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Samantha raced up the stairs as fast as she could. The guards, having seen her be dropped off by Jessica, let her pass without a word and Samantha entered into a sea of confusion, chaos, and general disarray. And it wasn't hard to see why.
Shattered glass, blood, and spent casings littered the ground near the windows looking out onto the line. Five cyborgs were scattered about the HQ, all dead now but having done plenty of damage. Dead Romans lined each of the cyborgs' bloody path and Samantha recognized one of them as the Major put in charge of the line after Flechett's death. Worse, more than a few lieutenants and other high ranking Romans were lying in pools of their own blood as well. No wonder the radio was in chaos, the command structure had been killed!
A single, young, lieutenant seemed to be the highest rank survivor and was completely overwhelmed. The poor boy hadn't even gotten people sorted enough to clear the bodies, much less respond to the attacks. Samantha nee-
Her thoughts came to a sudden halt as the chaos of the room was blown away by a massive explosion. The entire building was rocked, sending people scrambling to remain standing, as a fireball blossomed into the sky on the right of the HQ. Samantha pushed herself through the confused masses and gasped as she saw the explosion had come from the turret right beside the HQ. Oh God...
"L-Lieutenant Charles, we lost contact with turret 2!" someone managed to say before the chaos descended again. Samantha heart dropped into her stomach as she remembered that was the on the OTHER side of the HQ. And if both went down...
Snatching out her radio, Samantha scrambled to switch it to the right frequency. Sanders and Jessica HAD to get over there and stop those cyborgs. If turret 2 fell as well, the center of the line would lose nearly all of its firepower. They could make up for it by shifting bombards around, but not quick enough to stop the assault that was, undoubtedly, waiting at the wall for the second explosion. With the center's firepower reduced so much, a large assault could break through. And if that happened, the Society would be able to hit the rest of the line from behind. The line would collapse, squeezed to death from all sides, and the Society would move into Rome itself. They'd be doomed...
"Sanders, turret 2 just went silent! It's the one to the left of the HQ! Hurry if that turret goes down we're all dead!" Samantha yelled into the radio, getting a few people near her to turn to her in shock. A few mumbled stuff about the hero and such, but Samantha ignored them as she made her way to the overwhelmed lieutenant.
"Lieutenant Charles, I'm Samantha of the Phoenixes, we need to get support to tu-" Samantha started to say, but the man didn't even listen as he simply slumped down and buried his head in his hands. Fuck, he was gone... And the other Romans saw it too. Yells of retreat and fuck this started to appear with the confusion and Samantha could tell the HQ was moments away from falling completely apart.
"No, we ca-... Listen to me th.... Stop do- Stop. Stop!" Samantha tried to say, but the chaos just grew. People began to abandon their posts and flee while others took to forcing them to stay. Fights began to break out and that only drew more people away from their duties. The entire HQ was falling into anarchy as the Lieutenant who was supposed to be in charge weep in the corner. Samantha watched it all and felt helpless...
The best way to get any situation under control is to make yourself the center of it. Stop it by making everyone pay attention to you.
Samantha gulped down her fear and anxiety as she drew her pistol. She pointed it out the window before putting William's advice into action. She fired and the sound caused the HQ to become dead silent. The fights stopped mid punch, the arguments were silenced, and even those fleeing stopped as they turned back. All eyes settled on Samantha as she suddenly found herself regretting this move very, VERY much. And yet, in the silence, she could hear the rhythmic booms of Jessica's steps. If she failed, Jessica would die too. Sanders would and Jacob...
"Do....Do any of you understand what is happening outside? Do you get that Rome is about to be annihilated along with all of us?! Turret 3 is gone, GONE, and Turret 2 is in danger of being destroyed as well! If we lose both, the Society can force its why through the center, through this very building, and into Rome. All of us, all of your friends, your family, EVERYONE will die! And all of you just want to bicker, flee, or fight each other?!" Samantha said as she forced a glare onto his face. If she was honest, she understood why they were doing this, but she couldn't let them know that. William had taught her that being a leader sometimes meant being less human. She hoped it was the right tactic for this situation.
It seemed to work as the people who had been fighting seemed to calm down and those moving toward the door looked less sure of moving toward it. She was getting through to them, but had to do more than just reason with them. She had to inspire them too.
"What's happening here, it's exactly what the Society wants. What they NEED. They know they can't beat this line just by throwing themselves or their huge monsters at it, so instead they send these.... abominations to try and break us. But that shouldn't make you despair, it should make you proud," Samantha said as people began to move a bit closer to hear her. She didn't realize it, but her voice was being transmitted onto the radio and much of the chatter was dying away.
"No other Resistance group has ever fought these things, none have ever threatened the Society enough to warrant their use. But you did, this line did. They caught all of you off-guard, don't be ashamed or angry about that. They would have caught the Phoenixes off-guard just as easily. And yes that cost us a turret, but we can make sure that is ALL it costs us. We can make sure the line still holds, we can make sure that the Society knows even these cyborgs aren't enough to break us, and we can..." Samantha trailed off a bit as she tried to think of where to go. Then she remembered those footsteps.
" And we can help the Hero of Rome keep Turret 2 safe! He and Jes- Pyrrha are out there right now, fighting to keep all of us alive. But even they need help, so stop fleeing, stop fighting each other, and stop letting chaos rule us! Let us get back on our feet, and start paying the Society back for this surprise attack! Who is with me?" Samantha asked, worried that she would find a silent room waiting for her. But the room was anything but silent as a reinvigorated cheer went through the room. People rushed back down and took up their stations again as others began to move toward Samantha. She was taken off-guard as they all seemed to wait for her to give them orders. Oh...right... that... that probably did kinda put her in charge...
"Go...Good. Good then.... OK..." Samantha said as she did her best to look to know what she was doing. Despite having NO idea. Think think... Ugh the smell of the bo- oh right!
"Yo-You get the bodies out of here. Cover our own and the cyb...actually no, don't cover the cyborgs. I want people to see their killable," Samantha said to the officer who looked to be the highest surviving security person. He saluted before grabbing a few people to start hauling bodies. Good, good that was good. Now, on to the next guy.
The next in line was a Sergeant who looked to have made his way in at some point and got caught up in the chaos. Shit she was coming up a blank on what to do with them an-
"Sergeant Graves, ma'am, and if I could make a suggestion...?" he asked with a slight knowing smile. Samantha nodded as she tried to keep her face a rock.
"My squad took a few loses, but we're still combat ready. Me and my boys were in that crazy assault a few days ago and would love nothing better than to repay the Hero for saving our asses," the Sergeant said with the barest hint of pleading. Samantha, remembered the real threat, nodded in understanding.
"I understand, Sergeant. In that case, I want you and your squad to get to Turret 2 ASAP. Grab any other squads along the way and use whatever means neccessary to keep it intact. Understood?" Samantha ordered, getting a big grin from the large man.
"Absolutely, Ma'am," he said before giving a quick salute and rushing out of the HQ. Good, she had some support heading to assist Sanders and Jessica now. She wished she could do more, but, short of going herself, there wasn't much else she could do.
Feeling more confident after giving two good orders, Samantha went through the rest and started to get the HQ back in some semblance of order. Even better, real reports of unit positions, status updates, and areas of combat began to filter in. The radio was still chaotic, but the staff of the HQ were starting to get things back under control.
Letting the HQ staff work to get a clearer picture before making any major moves, Samantha headed over to where Lieutenant Charles was still cowering in the corner. He had stopped crying, but showed no sign of moving. She couldn’t let him stay, though, as he would only remind everyone how close they came to falling apart. And the poor guy would never stop beating himself up over how he broke when he was needed most if she let him stay like that. He needed to get back into the fight for their and his own sake.
"Lieutenant," Samantha said as she moved toward him. He glanced at her before turning away. He tried to press himself further into the corner as she knelt down beside him.
"Charles, we need your help too. I know you think you failed by not being able to handle this, but few people would have. I wasn't here to watch this slaughter, to watch the commanders and friends I came to trust be butchered and then be thrust into command of a situation no one had even dreamed of," Samantha said in a soothing voice she had, often, used with Jacob to help him. Charles closed his eyes and fresh tears began to leak out of his eyes.
"It's going to be fine. No one here thinks less of you for not being able to handle all this. But they do need your help," Samantha continued as she held out her hand to pat his shoulder. He heaved a bit at that before sucking in a breath.
"What did you do be-"
"Comms... I was... I am the Comm officer," Comm officer Charles said as he took a slight heaving breath. He rubbed his eyes dry before picking himself up off the floor. Samantha rose with him and give him a proud smile.
"I'll...I'll get the radio cleared of all the chatter, Ma'am," Charles said with a salute. Samantha nodded to him before heading back to the map where the situation of the line began to become clearer.
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Sanders had hundreds of questions running through his head, but all of them were pushed aside as the cyborg came charging forward. The sword the twisted man had tossed toward him was still on the floor and Sanders knew he wouldn't have time to grab it AND block an attack. Instead, Sanders let out a yell and started his own counter-charge. The cyborg's smile spread even further as it raised a metal-laced fist to smash into Sanders.
But Sanders had no intention of making a cross-counter he would lose. As they closed in, Sanders juked to the right and avoided the sloppy, full-powered punch. He dragged one of his legs along the ground and hooked it on the cyborg's. He kicked out with the leg and threw the cyborg completely off balance. As it tried to recover, Sanders made a mad dash for his discarded gun. If he could reach it...
Just as Sanders was about to grab it, however, a bow smashed into its side. The gun skidded forward and Sanders swore as it tipped over the side and fell to the ground far below.
"Uh uh uhhhh! Using a gun isn't allowed. But hey, to keep things fair, I got rid of my bow too. Guess we'll have to solve this the medieval way, heheheheh!" the cyborg said as it yanked the quiver of arrows off its back. It looked about to toss them, but sparks started to come from it. It hesitated for another second before flinging the arrows away with a yell of effort. It then turned back to face Sanders.
"Ahhh, much better. Now, take your sword," it kicked the sword back along the walkway and it skidded to a halt just in front of Sanders, "and let's get this contest going." The demented smile hardened as the cyborg lowered itself every so slightly. Sanders glanced back at the ground far below and sighed as he realized his gun was not going to help him in this fight. However...
Sanders knelt down and grabbed the sword. He would have preferred a mace or even a warhammer, but he'd make do. With his sword in his right hand, he removed the belt of ammo and wrapped it around his left. It was a shitty shield by any standards, but the bullets should provide some protection from the cyborgs iron fists.
The cyborg watched him prepare and his smile spread as Sanders wrapped his hand. He gave a chuckle as his hands tightened into fists. Fists that would be propelled with strength a normal human could only imagine... Sanders doubted he would be able to keep fighting if he took a direct punch, but he did have a reach advantage with the sword. And, while he was a bit out of practice, he was no rookie when it came to close-quarters combat.
Deciding to take the initiative this time, Sanders charged forward toward the cyborg. Its smile turned to a smirk as it readied itself for his attack. Sanders thrust his sword forward toward its shoulder, but the cyborg juked it with ease. Its hand shot up as it did and clamped down on the blade of the sword, a bit of blood dribbling out as it did. Its smirk spread as it thought it had Sanders, but Sanders had been expecting the showy move.
Using the sword as leverage, Sanders pulled himself toward the cyborg and smashed his wrapped fist into its face. The blow was painful, even with the ammo absorbing some of the impact, but it did send the cyborg reeling. As it stumbled back, Sanders got one of his legs around it and tried to send it tumbling. But the leg kicked out with so much force that it was Sanders who was sent tumbling. Fuck, even its legs were enhanced!
"Piece of-!!!" the cyborg said as it recovered enough to try for an overhead, one handed, smash. Thankfully, the cyborg hadn't released the sword and Sanders pulled himself to the side just enough to avoid the brutal blow. The fist smashed into the walkway and left a large dent in the metal where it hit. Shit...
The cyborg growled in fury and his hand clamped on the sword tightened. Sanders grimaced for the incoming yank... but was relieved to hear only screeching metal and feel a slight pull. The cyborg's hand had only slid a bit further back on the sword, rather than pull on it. The blade was a poor place to get leverage from and the cyborg's own strength and speed were working against it.
Seeing an opening, Sanders rushed forward and tried to tackle the cyborg like a linebacker. The enhanced man took the hit with a slight grunt as Sanders threw everything he had in pushing him back. He managed to drive him back a few steps, moving him closer to the edge, before the cyborg's hand clamped down on the back of his neck.
Sanders cursed as the cybrog dragged him of it and whirled around. He gasped in pain as it slammed him into the guard rail, bending it with the impact, and Sanders lost his grip on his sword. The cyborg tossed it away and growled at him before lifting his fist up for the death blow. Sanders gasped to get the air back in and struggled to clear his head. The fist came racing down...
With a yell of survival, Sanders swung his own "armored" fist up and hit the cyborg's mid flight. The impact sent a ripple of pain back through Sanders' arm, but the hit sent the fist off course just enough for it to clip Sanders' head rather than smash it apart. The blow sent a jet of pain screaming through Sanders, but the pain was welcome as it cleared his head.
The cyborg had enough time to look confused before Sanders grabbed his neck and pulled him over the side. With the help of the inertia his fist had made, and the bent rail, Sanders sent it tumbling off the walkway. But as it started to fall, the cyborg whirled in mid-air and managed to clamp onto the side of the walkway. Its other hand shot up and it roared in fury as it halted its fall. Fucking hell!
With his sword gone, Sanders was now out of weapons and doubted the cyborg would give him another chance like that. He needed a weap- the bow! Sprinting to where the bow had knocked his gun away, Sanders snatched it up as the cyborg, literally, tossed itself back up and onto the walkway. Its face was now a twisted visage of pure rage as it stomped towards him.
"You've embarrassed me...made me look weak to the owners. I'm not going to be a doll, not going to let YOU be the reason they get rid of ME! Do you hear me?! DO YOU HEAR ME?!?!?!" it screamed far louder than a human should be able to before going into a madness and rage driven charge. Sanders, rubbing some blood out of his eye, hefted the bow up with a hand at either end as he got ready for the charge.
The cyborg roared as it leap up to deliver an overheaded blow. Sanders waited till it was nearly on him before rolling forward and under the cyborg. Its hands smashed into the walkway with enough force to cause the entire thing to shake, but Sanders, having gotten used to such things on Pyrrha, keep his feet and whirled around. He, quickly, got the bow over the cyborg's head and yanked back as hard as he could.
The cyborg started to let out a growl, but it turned to gasps as the bow string began to dig into its neck. Sanders pulled as hard as he could on it as he leap onto its back to add his legs to the effort. The cyborg's gasps turned to silent screams as his hands fought to get at the string or to break it. But just as Sanders had expected, the string was too tough for him to snap. After all, it had been designed to make use of the cyborg's enhanced strength.
Despite this, the cyborg managed to fight its way to its feet and started to make its way to the side of the walkway. It was about halfway there when its legs gave out. It gave one last effort to try and grab Sanders before its entire body fell limp. Sanders keep the pressure up, though, till the light that was coming from its eye faded completely. The cyborg was dead and blood was leaking out of his throat like a faucet.
Releasing his death grip, Sanders stumbled back and flopped to the ground. He gasped and ran has hand over his head as exhaustion smashed through the barrier adrenaline had made. He...he had won... He had beaten the monster...
Sanders started to lie down, when his brain began to pick up on the gunfire going on around him. His mind had been so focused on survival that it had, simply, shut the noise out. He wondered why the- oh crap, the Romans! They had been pinned down last he had saw! Shit, he needed to help them!
Pushing his exhaustion away, Sanders got back to his feet and started forward. He needed to climb the stairs up and, from there, retrace the cyborgs' path. Hopefully, he could find his gun before he had to get into a fight, but if not... well he would think of something.
Before Sanders reached the stairs, however, a group of figures appeared on the walkway above him. Sanders swore and was about to try and flee back the way he came, but stopped as he realized these figures didn't have bits of machinery sticking out of them, and were armed with rifles.
"Sergeant, below us," one of the Roman soldiers said. The squad of six people all turned and looked down at Sanders. Sanders gave a relieved gasp before giving them a tired wave. The squad double-timed it down the stairs, but slowed as they neared the cyborg's corpse.
"Sir, its good to see you are alive. Sergeant Graves, at your service. Are the other cyborgs still active?" Graves asked as his men spread out, guns ready. Sanders shook his head as he fought off the very appealing urge to flop to the ground.
"No, they're all dead. At least the ones that came up here," Sanders said. Graves blinked a few times at this as some of his men cast glances toward him. Did... did they not believe him? An uncomfortable silence hung over them before Graves got a smile and shook his head.
"Should have known the Hero of Rome would have been fine. Came all this way expecting to save you, and your just fine on your own. Guess we'll have to pay back the Hero some other time, boys," Graves said as the men relaxed with chuckles of their own. Sanders started to groan a bit at being called a hero, again, but suppressed the urge.Graves turned away from Sanders and back to his men.
"Search the bodies, we still need to make sure they didn't set any charges," Graves said as the men fanned out. Charges? Shit that was right, that was the whole reason for this! Sanders had gotten so caught up fighting for his life he had completely forgotten.
The good news was he didn't think any of the cyborgs, save the one that had talked, had had time to set them up anywhere. And considering how focused on killing him that last one had been, he doubted it had set any either. His theory was proven right as a soldier pulled a solid block of C4 out of a pouch on the dead cyborg. But nothing else... Where was the det- oh God....
"Get out of here, get out n-" Sanders tried to yell, but was stopped as Graves put his hand on his chest.
"Calm down, CALM DOWN, sir, Samantha is ahead of you!" Graves said. Sanders panic died down a bit at the mention of Samantha, but he was still terrified at that block of explosive power. It was good to hear she had made progress in getting order back, but what did he mean she was ahead of him?
"Our radios have been filling the airwaves with noise since Samantha realized the explosives were, most likely, linked back to the Society lines. I bet those giant cunts are wailing away on the explode button right now, trying to get this thing to blow," Graves said with a pleased smirk. Sanders' panic died away as he heard the explanation. Thank God Samantha had come with Pyrrha...
"We'll mop up any charges left and get them out of here, sir. You should head down and find a medic to patch you up. Think they found your gun too," Graves said before moving down the walkway to follow some of his men. Sanders nodded in agreement and let out a deep, tired sigh. A few gunshots were still echoing about, but most had died away as Sanders began his slow walk back to the ground.
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"Turret 2 has reported situation under control. The charges are all accounted for and are being disarmed now. Also, Sanders has reported in with only minor injuries," Lieutenant Charles said. Samantha let out a breath she had been holding for a long while as the disaster, finally, came to an end. Turret 2 was back in their hands, the majority of the cyborgs were in retreat, and Sanders was still alive... the idiot.
She had feared the worst when Jessica had reported that he had charged right into the turret. Even with his machine gun, she didn't think his chance of survival was high. But Sanders title of hero was, quickly, being well earned and there were already wild stories of his fight going around. It wasn't proper use of military transmissions, but the morale boast it was causing was worth letting it slide.
"Thank you Lieutenant. And good catch on finding the Society's detonation signal. You might have saved all of Rome because of that," Samantha said with a proud smile. Charles blushed a bit at that and nodded a quick thank you before turning back to his station.
Getting the Lieutenant back to work had been the best choice Samantha had made during this mess. Back in his element, the Lieutenant reestablished a clutter free comm channel, gotten all the high ranking survivors on it, keep the panicked people out yet still got those panicked cries seen to, AND realized that a signal had been sent from the Society lines seconds before Turret 3 had exploded. That last discovery truly had saved Rome as that signal was being sent like mad toward Turret 2. Thankfully, Charles had proven his worth again by getting a number of radio operators to jam the frequency with noise and clutter. The Society's signal was meeting a, virtual, wall of competing signals.
While Charles had handled all of that, Samantha and the rest of the HQ staff had gotten the line back in order. Once communication and some order had been established, it was clear the attack was nowhere near as large as it seemed. With the Romans started to fight back in earnest, the cyborgs were forced to either withdraw or be overwhelmed. It was still bloody work pushing them out, but the line had held. Casualties were high, but not high enough to compromise the line’s strength.
Samantha was about to check in on the right flank, but stopped as a familiar rumble started to rock the building. Instead, she headed to the open window and arrived just as Jessica started to bend down to it. Even knowing she was on their side, Samantha could see more than a few of the Romans tensing at seeing her this close.
"Kitten, there is strange noise. It coming from other side," Jessica said, her ear twitching and grimacing every so often. Samantha didn't hear anything, save for the dim sounds of battle, but knew Jessica had much better hearing. Still, someone should have reported it, unless...
"Do you smell catmonsters or fairies?" Samantha asked, worrying the Society might try the assault even without blowing both turrets. Jessica sniffed the air for a few seconds before looking back down.
"Kinda, but... it is getting harder to smell them," Jessica said. Samantha's held breath was released as she deduced the attack was being called off. The Society's sneak attack had failed and they had called off the assault. The line had held.